Roberto Cabalisti

Roberto Cabilisti

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 172 lb.

• School February 9, 1961 in Vicenza, Vicenza Italy

Olympics-Reference page

Biographical Information

Roberto Cabalisti has pitched for almost 25 years in Italy and played in the Olympics twice.

Cabalisti was 3-14 in 1984 at age 23 and also saw regular action in the outfield. After not playing in 1985-1986, he hit .197/.247/.211 for Verona in 1987 and went 4-11 with a 5.46 ERA and .321 opponent average. He played for Italy in the 1987 Intercontinental Cup, beginning a 14-year run with the Italian national team.

In '88, Roberto manned the field regularly for the last time, batting .250/.368/.344. He was 10-3 with a 3.38 ERA for San Marino that year, his first big year on the hill. In the 1988 Baseball World Cup, he was 0-3 with a 12.60 ERA, .419 opponent average and .757 opponent slugging. He had Italy's second-highest ERA in the event and led the team in losses; the rest of the staff went 4-4.

Roberto was 4-4 with two saves and a 3.08 ERA for Rimini in 1989. In the finals, he was 0-1 with 9 runs in 6 2/3 IP. He played in the 1989 Intercontinental Cup and won a Gold Medal with Italy in the 1989 European Championship. In '90, the right-hander had a 11-1, 1.94 record with 98 K in 97 1/3 IP; he only allowed a .194 average. In the finals, he again struggled, giving up 9 hits and 7 runs in 3 innings. He was on Italy's roster for the 1990 Baseball World Cup but did not appear in a game.

Cabalisti was 1-0 with a save in limited action in 1991, allowing 5 runs in 22 innings. The next year, he went 3-0 with 4 saves and a 3.00 ERA. He was 1-0 ion the finals in 1992 but gave up two runs in 2 2/3 IP. Roberto went 9-3 with four saves and a 2.82 ERA in 1993 but went 0-2 with a save in the finals. He had a 0-1, 9.75 record in the 1993 Intercontinental Cup with a .385 average allowed. He had a save and a 3.27 ERA for Italy when they won Silver in the 1993 European Championship. He was 3rd in opponent OBP (.227, behind Patrick Klerx and Eelco Jansen), 8th in opponent average (.190, between Andrei Tselykovsky and Heino von Bargen), tied for second in games pitched (4, even with Christophe Gouilleux, Guillaume Coste, Roderick Hopkins, Timur Triphonenkov and Joeri Loykens, one behind Leonid Korneev) and tied for third in saves. Though he was 32 years old, his career as a player was not even half over.

The Vicenza native fell to 8-5, 5.12 for Rimini in 1994 but still made the Italian squad for the 1994 Baseball World Cup, he was 1-0 with a 8.25 ERA but led Italy with 11 strikeouts in his 12 innings of work. In '95, Roberto was 11-5 with a 2.75 ERA for Rimini. He won Silver at the 1995 European Championship, going 1-0 with a 2.93 ERA and .82 WHIP, 5th in the event. He was second to Italy in ERA behind Dante Carbini. He tied Michael Leys and Rinat Makhmoutov for 8th in the Euros that year with 14 strikeouts. In the 1995 Intercontinental Cup, Calabisti went 0-2 with a 5.54 ERA.

In 1996, the old-timer was 11-3 with 4 saves and a 2.84 ERA with 130 strikeouts in 123 2/3 IP. He held opponents to a batting line of .206/.287/.305. He was Italy's workhorse in the 1996 Olympics with a team-high 19 innings and 17 strikeouts. He was 2-1 with a 3.66 ERA; the rest of the Italian staff was 0-4. He picked up wins over Australia and South Korea, two pretty good baseball countries, but lost to Italy's European rival, the Netherlands. His wins came against future major leaguer Micheal Nakamura and Dong-hwan Moon and his loss was versus Rob Cordemans. He tied Kris Benson and Asdrudes Flores for 4th in the '96 Summer Games in strikeouts behind Pedro Luis Lazo, Jutaro Kimura and Omar Luis. Cabalisti tied Benson, R.A. Dickey, Cordemans, Kimura, Lazo, Jose Quiroz and Osmani Romero for 4th in wins, one behind Seth Greisinger, Luis and Masanori Sugiura.

Cabalisti was nearly unhittable in 1997 but his ERA rose as he was 10-7, 3.84 with four saves. He struck out 119 in 119 2/3 IP with just 57 hits. Opponents hit just .121/.211/.249. He was on Italy's team that won Gold at the 1997 European Championship, his second Gold in a European Championship. In the 1997 Intercontinental Cup, he allowed four runs in 3 2/3 IP but was 1-1.

Roberto had a 7-3, 4 save, 2.73 record for Rimini in 1998, his 10th year with the team. He fanned 91 in 85 2/3 IP and allowed only a .214 average. In the finals, he went the distance in a start, allowing 3 runs and picking up a win. He led Italy with five appearances in the 1998 Baseball World Cup and had a 6.75 ERA and .370 opponent average.

The 38-year-old went 4-0 with six saves and a 2.24 ERA in 1999, striking out 78 in 68 1/3 innings and allowing a .206/.299/.250 batting line. In the finals, he gave up four runs in 5 2/3 IP with a save. He was 1-0 with a 2.91 ERA in the 1999 Intercontinental Cup with a team-high 10 strikeouts. He won Silver at the 1999 European Championship.

Roberto was 5-3 with 8 saves and a 2.20 ERA in 2000 with just a .182 opponent average; he again was worse in the finals with two runs in 1 1/3 IP. He made his final national team appearance in the 2000 Olympics as the old man on Italy's squad. He was easily Italy's worst hurler in the Games, with 6 hits, a walk and a hit batsmen in 10 plate appearances. He was charged with five runs in 1 2/3 IP, a far cry from his appearance in the '96 Olympics. One of his two outings was against powerhouse Cuba.

Cabalisti began his fourth decade in baseball in 2001. He was 8-1 with four saves and a 2.15 ERA that year while celebrating his 40th birthday. He gave up 5 runs in 8 innings in the finals. In '02, the right-hander went 10-3 with a 2.51 ERA and .220 opponent average. He had his best finals yet, going 2-0 with a 2.40 ERA to win his 4th title with Rimini.

In 2003, the Vicenza native was 5-3 with 2 saves and a 2.31 ERA and .228 opponent average. He had a 4-3, 2.04 record with four saves in 31 relief appearances in '04 with just a .195/.233/.275 opponent batting line. Still going strong at 43, he was 8-2 with a 2.60 ERA.

The 44-year-old was 8-2 with a 2.60 ERA in 2005. In 2006, he went 5-4 with four saves and a 2.27 ERA. He was 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA in the finals as Rimini took the pennant. In '07, he was 1-3 with a save and a 2.57 ERA. During 2008, he had his worst season yet, going 0-2 with a save and a 5.79 ERA as age was perhaps catching up to him at 47.

In 2009, Cabalisti moved to De Angelis Godo and was 4-3 with a 7.02 ERA in 20 outings, his first time away from Rimini in 20 years. In 2000, he remained as a pitcher with Godo while also becoming pitching coach.

Through '09, Cabalisti was 165-98 with 61 saves and a 3.33 ERA in 520 games, only 86 of them starts. He had allowed a .237/.305/.340 batting line and struck out 1,861 in 2,220 2/3 IP. At the time, he was the all-time Italian leader in games pitched (99 over Paolo Ceccaroli), was tied for 4th in wins (behind Giulio Glorioso, Rolando Cretis and Ceccaroli), was 3rd in strikeouts (1,861, behind Glorioso and Daniel Newman) and was 2nd in saves (2 behind Ilo Bartolucci).